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Introduction Text September 20 - wedding yesterday was beautiful. Cool but sunny day, 17 guests who mixed really well. Pictures to follow. August 23 The wedding is less than a month away, and one by one, we are checking off the items from Siobhan's spread sheet. Yesterday she and Chris finalized their flower order with the florist. I have a dozen pots of yellow and white mums ordered to decorate the yard. A banner is ordered, to be hung either on the arbor or at the front door. Food is planned, cutlery, table cloths, plates have all been checked. Siobhan is wearing her shoes around the house to break them in. We have some pictures from Chris's parents and will put together some kind of display showing Siobhan and Chris at roughly the same ages. Siobhan has sent the photographers a list of pictures they would like, and our priest has arranged for the wedding to be videotaped for those who cannot attend. Nothing we can do about the weather... I'm hoping that we will be outside, but preparing the house in case of rain. August 1/20 Most of Ontario is now in Stage 3 of recovery. This means that we are allowed to eat inside restaurants as long as proper distancing is kept. Except when we are eating or drinking, we are supposed to wear masks to protect ourselves and others. Unfortunately many young people (20-40) are not doing this, and 65% of new cases are now in that age group. In spite of Covid-19, we are busy preparing for Siobhan & Chris's wedding on September 19. It will be small, with only 20 people present. The reception will be in our backyard... please pray for sunshine! They hope to have a bigger party later, at the restaurant where their reception was originally going to be held. June 12 - 3 1/2 months after Covid-19 hit, people in Ontario are finally allowed to extend their bubble to include one other household, to a maximum of 10 people. Each person is allowed to be in only 1 bubble. We will now be able to visit back and forth with our daughter's family, a total of 6 of us, and will be able to hug and not stay 6' apart. I have started carb cycling, with 5 days/week of carbs below 30 gm. and 2 days that I do not count carbs. It's probably way too early to say this, but I like it, and definitely have less acid reflux. March 1 - starting the Spring re-read of the Beck Diet Solution (BDS) pink book. After being so proud of breaking 160, I "scuttled" back to 168... "scuttling" is how I think of it... retreating to a comfortable place. But I am determined to get back down to 160, and lower. December 20 - 157 lbs. Now to keep it there over the holidays! November 26, 2019 A few days ago, my weight was 159 lbs... the first time since at least 2002 that I was below 160 lbs. Breaking 160 was a huge psychological success for me. I feel like I can keep going and reach my goal of 150 in 2020. October 4, 2019 Home after vacation, and settling into the fall season. Lots of work to do preparing the garden for the winter, including pruning some trees and shrubs. Volunteer work at church is busier than ever, with the Syrian refugee family we sponsored (part of a 5-parish initiative) expected to arrive as early as this month. Now that Aria is in school and I have more time to myself, I've started the fall re-read of the Beck Diet Solution, combining it with intermittent fasting, eating all my food between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Getting back on the treadmill and starting aquafit. August 27, 2019 This has been a really difficult summer... the worst since I started SP in 2011... and I've learned a lot about myself in the process. As many of you know, we've been minding our granddaughter while her mother works for the past 2 years. She was 2 1/2 when we started, almost 4 1/2 now and starting school in just a few days. We've loved having her, but it has been tiring, and lots of other things have slipped. I also realize I've slid back into some of my bad habits from when my own children were young. I'm not shopping or cooking as well, using more frozen foods, and cleaning off her plate way too much! In 10 days I leave on a 13-day trip to England and Scotland, and then 2 days after coming home, Peter and I are driving to Nova Scotia for 12 days to visit my son and his wife. I'm very consciously planning to use this month to get myself back on track. It will be easier because I won't have access to the fridge or the cupboards. I will take my Beck book with me, and start re-doing the 42-day programme. In the meantime, I remind myself that I'm down 24 lbs. since starting SP and I have broken my pattern of gaining 3, 4 or 5 lbs. every year. I will not quit. I am succeeding... I am proud of myself! April 20, 2019 Today I revised the date I want to meet my next weight loss goal in order to reduce the number of calories I am allowed to eat each day. For the past month I've often eaten more than I wanted simply to meet the calorie goal SP set for me. I hope this will help me lose weight more quickly. March 14, 2019 Today I started back on the BECK Diet Solution plan, and joined the re-read of the 42-day programme which Kriszta leads. I tried this programme last year at about the same time, but then we went on holidays and I never got back at it. I believe in this programme because it is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which was very effective when I saw a psychiatrist for my clinical depression years ago. At pretty much the same time, I started on Intermittent Fasting (IF), and find that the two programmes work well together. I am eating 3 meals in an 8-hour period from 12 noon to 8 pm, then fasting until 12 noon the next day. Combining these 2 programmes, I am sleeping better, have no cravings, and more energy. I'm exercising more regularly, easily drinking my 8 cups of water/day, and my moods are more stable. As recommended by Dr. Beck, I am setting 5 lb. goals, and will celebrate each success. February 21/19 Revise, revise, revise... Work, work, work... BUT NEVER QUIT! No one ever said losing weight would be easy. No one ever said that adding regular exercise to your daily routine would be fun. I'm 75, and I want to be active for as many more years as I can. I want to enjoy vacations with my husband and have fun with my 3-year-old granddaughter. Today I reset my weight goal. Instead of looking at losing another 20 lbs., (I've already lost 20), I'm looking at losing 5 lbs. at a time, with a goal of being at my final goal of 150 lbs. by the end of 2019. My main exercise is walking, using my treadmill in the winter and walking outside spring, summer and fall. I also do a bit of strength training, but have damage to both shoulders, am not supposed to lift my arms above shoulder height until my physiotherapy exercises repair the damage. I track my food and water, aim for 250 minutes of exercise each week. I limit the number of friends I add and the number of teams I join so that I can be really active with them. Spark People doesn't offer any magical solutions. It offers good advice on nutrition and exercising. The rest is up to you. Thank you to the Spark Friends I've made for the encouragement and support. I wouldn’t still be here without you.

To be as healthy and fit as possible at 76 so that I can enjoy travelling with my DH and playing with our 4-year-old granddaughter.

- track all food, water and exercise, as follows: - stop eating directly from the container; e.g., cereal, chips, nuts, cereal, crackers - 8 glasses of water/day - 5 or more fruits and vegetables/day - lean protein every meal, eating meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, legumes - eat mindfully, avoiding high sodium foods and weighing and/or measuring portion size - include afternoon and evening snack in daily meal plan - in the summer, much of my cardiovascular exercise is working in the garden and walking. In the winter, I swim and do virtual walks on the treadmill - ST including resistance band and floor exercises

- born 25/09/43 in Nova Scotia, live in Southern Ontario - wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, friend - reader, gardener, traveller, volunteer - cat lover - active in my church (Anglican)

Long-term goal 150 lbs

Add a Link Gail Southern Ontario, Canada Eastern Time Zone
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